32
By balance from last account
By profit on sales
By iransfer fees
By interest
By debts previously written off recovered
CANTON NOTES.
[FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.]
č.
5.00 1,067.68
158.48
$61,894.46
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
WHOLESALE KIDNAPPING.
480.23 Last Sunday a gang of robbers, known as the 59,683.12
Sap Yau (the Ten Brotherhood) engaged a large flower boat. At about one o'clock in the morn. ing, when there were fourteen girls in the boat, a number of dragon boats came alongside, and the robbers bundled the girls, just as they stood, into these. Neighbouring flower boats raised an alarm by beating gongs, but this noise was speedily silenced by a few shots from carbines and revolvers. Chinese gunboats were anchored near the group of flower boats, but they paid no attention. The girls were landed some distance up river. After they were landed, a guard-Boat in that locality, suspecting that there was some- thing wrong, searched a dragon boat, and found on board hair-pins, women's shoes, etc. 'hree men were thereupon arrested; but unfortunately | they may be men who were forced to do the work. | The robbers were traced to a certain village, where an unsuccessful search was made by order of the Viceroy,
Canton, 15th July.
THE CANTON RAILWAY.
In spite of what has recently appeared in the papers about the Kowlooh-Canton Railway the Chinese here do not seem to think that this line will be running for a considerable time yet to come. As a matter of fact, their whole attention has been drawn towards the projected Canton Hankow railway by a new and wonderful scheme of the Chinese merchants. In order to curry the trunk line to Hankow, it is proposed to form a lottery. The lottery will be drawn once a month, and the purchaser of a ticket. if he does not draw a prize, may hold the ticket-speaking from memory, a 82-ticket-till he has fifty such tickets. A hundred dollar share will be given in exchange for those. It remains to be seen how such a schem would work. Personally I am of opinion that it would take a very long time, indeed, to get in the requisite sum by this meaus, for the following reasons: Two dollars is an absurdly small sum under the circum- stances: only twenty per cent of the takings | will be devoted to prizes: and as the directorate of the Railway Company will be entirely Chinese, it is not at all improbable that the greater part of the profits, if any, would be devoted to Directors' fees. The lottery, at all events, will have to be a very very big one.
$40,000 A MONTH.
The Canton Fatshan line, I hear, is making a net profit of about $40,000 per month-a wonderful suocess.
TO-DAY'S EXECUTIONS.
As a result of a pamphlet written by Chev. Z. Volpicelli, the Italian Consul at Hongkong, pointing out the uselessness of torturing pri- soners till they made false confessions, etc., an order has been received from Peking not to decapitate prisoners sentenced to death save in very exceptional cases. but to resort to strangulation. Up to the present, such a mode of execution was reserved for officials of more
than one button, who had been sentenced to death, and then it was entered in the official records as "So-and-so was pre-
sented with a silk cord with which to com- mit suicide", but the man was strangled by his keepers, nevertheless,
Seven men were executed under the new rules to-day, and another, whose crime, that of supplying arms and ammunition to the Kwangai Rebels, was considered of a more serious character, had his head chopped off according to "old" custom. The men who were strangled were first of all tied to crosses,
and then cords about their necks were screwed
up tight. Of the two I should say that this strangulation was the slower and more bar- barous way of putting a man out of existence.
and
THE FRENCH FETE.
The 14th was observed as a public holiday here by the whole of the French community. celebrating the Fall of the Bastille. In the evening there was a grand display of fireworks which was greatly appreciated by the Chinese from Canton City. A brass band enlivened the proceedings. The bandsmen were quartered in a specially erected stand in front of the French Consulate. This neighbourhood was prettily decorated with innumerable little glass lights, intermingled freely with a great blaze of Japanese and Chinese lanterns. mail, by special favour, as several friends of the French Consul had come to Canton for the occasion, was permitted to postpone her departure for Hongkong till 10.30, when the proceedings concluded. Several flower-boats and sampaus were hauled in front of the Shameen to watch the fireworks.
"
The French
FROM THE CHUNG NGÒI SAN PO”.
MORE RAILWAY ** TALK,"
Information has been received from Amoy to the effect that HE. Chang Pat-sbi, the director general of the Southern provinces, pro- poses to construct a railway from Sing Ya, in Amoy, to Swatow via Cheung Chow, so as to be connected with the Canton and Swatow railway. The gentry and merchants of Amoy also pro- pose to construct another line from Amoy to Foochow via Chuen Chow and Hing Fa. They know the latter line passes through very fow market towns and there is not much cargo to
be taken en route, but the places through which it passes are covered with many mines, so that it is very important to facilitate the working of these mines. They are waiting for the arrival of H.E. Chang Pat-shi to make necessary arrangements with him.
THEFT OF COTTON TARN.
On the 16th ultimo a merchant imported sixty bales of cotton yarn from Hongkong. When they arrived at Canton, a boat was hired to convey the same to Linchow for sale. When the boat was sailing near Whang-Kong, of Ching-Yuen district, she was attacked by about a dozen pirates, who boarded the boat, terrifying the crew by presenting firearms at them, and forced the master of the boat to make for Wong-Sung-how, where they carried away twenty eight bales of cotton yarn and all the firearms on board to the value of about five thousand dollars. The case was at once reported to the local authorities, who have sent soldiers to the place to hunt for the culprits; but no clue concerning the pirates has been discovered
are as yet.
BANDITS.
A large audience turned out to see the "new fashion," several Europeans being amongst the crowd. As soon as the affair was over, one of the Europeans immediately stepped into the ring to bargain with the No. 1 executioner for the cords he had used. It is really too bad that while some Europeans writing against these public executions others, innumerable tourists
globe- On the 2nd inst. a house belonging to a well- trotters, should be encouraging them; and to-do citizen surnamed Pun. of the village of fancy, for instance, the indelicacy of a lady" Kwei-chow, in Sno-tak district, was ransacked taking snapshots of such things. I know of one instance of a tourist bribing the executioner to hold his sword in air, above the condemned man's head, for three seconds so that a clear picture might be secured. It was a gruesome sight; and after the execution, the blood bespattered tourist secured the executioner's sword, even preventing him from wiping it.
4
THE UNITED STATES CONSULATE. The United States Consulate here is in mourn- ing for a month on account of the death of Secretary Hay. The flag is kept at half-mast and the Consular Court draped in black.
by a large gang of robbers, who carried away all the valuables found therein and kiduapped a small child aged six. A few days later a letter was received from the criminals demanding one thousand five hundred dollars, and five hundred taels of opium for the ransom of the child under threat of slaughtering the child if their demand was not complied with immediately. The letter was signed by the head robber named Leung. Kau. Magistrate Tong, of Sun-tak district, to whom the case was reported, proceeded at once with some soldiers to Tai-Ngau-8′′ where the den of the robbers was. In the den, the child,
(July 24, 1905. together with eleven_other_captives was found. but the robbers made good their escape, and only the wife of the head robber was arrested:
FROM OUR COKRESPONDEN [.]
10th July.
THE CHINA LIGHT AND POWER COMPANY. Recently Viceroy Shum entered into an agreement with the above çompany in view of permitting the Chinese Government to take over the whole of the Electric Light Concern in Canton; and the precis of the agreement is roughly as follow:-The life term of the agreement is for thirty years, but at any time after the expiration of 95 years the Chinese Government may take over the concern. The price for taking it over will be based on three times the gross earnings of any one of the three last years out-turn of the business, and it is evident the Company will base its demand on the best of three years out-turn. On the other hand, the company is to pay an annual royalty of five per cent on the gross earnings
of the Canton business to the Chinese Gorern- ment. Should there be any balance of the nett profits after paying a dividend of ten per cent to the shareholders, the company agres to pay a further royalty of ten per cent on the balance of the net profits. The Chinese Government promise to give every facility to the company in Canton and also to assist the company to collect their debts from local Chiness consumers. All official yamens will receive electric installa- tions and light will be supplied them at half- rates, and all Chinese officials actually holding positions will be supplied with light at three quarter rates. Beyond the fact that such innovations prove the tendency of Chinese more and more adopt Western officials to appliances, certain shareholders of the company would perhaps not be adverse to making capital of this piece of information. It is rumoured that a cable will be laid across to Ho Nam as soon as the new dynamo comes out from home, so that the inhabitants on the other side of the river will also have the benefit of the elec'r'c light, while the company will naturally look to an increase of its business.
ACCIDENT ON BOARD THE 8.8.
DOMENICO."
Domenice left Canton for Suitung. When she At 7 p.m. on the 15th instant the Italian s..
was about three miles from Wongpo, the cross head bolts (between the bottom of the piston and the upper end of the connecting rod) gavo way, thus causing the piston rod to go too far up, striking the cylinder cover and breaking it to pieces. Fortunately the engineer had the presence of mind to turn off the steam, and although there was an explosion, no one was
hurt.
RIVER PIRATES AGAIN.
The raid on the flower boats is still t'e ons topic of conversation among well-to-do Chinese, although the "The Railway Question "- question of more vital interest to the province and the country in general should, in all com. mou-sense, engage more earnestly public atten- tion-and so, in deference to our Chinese infor- mants, who will find no rest till they have unburdened themselves on the burning topic, let us give another paragraph to Canton's greatest attraction-flower boats-and have the graver topic of railway transfer for the end.
*
Your issue of the 15th instant gave a summary of the raid. Here are further parti. culars. Of the fourteen girls kidnapped, one named Chau Kun was on the eve of becoming han lin" the concubine of a well-known surnamed Kong" (River) and nick-named Shrimp." She offered what resistance she could, and is said to bave had a
spirited fight with the robbers, till she was stunned by the butt end of a revolver. Active steps are being taken to trace and pursue the robbers, bat officials are chary of giving information. If Admiral Li Tsun succeeds in securing the gang, he will add another brilliant deed to his record. As a mere hint, it may be worth his or the Viceroy's while to question the Han lin how he entered into communication with the kid. nappers.
The flower-boat owners and the robbers are in touch, but the latter have threatened to take reprisals and to burn the flower boats wholesale; if their lurking place is revealed. The reticence of flower bost owners is hence easily accounted for.